MOUNT RAINIER 



as a consequence the rivers coming from that peak are 

 dyed a somber chocolate brown. 



A word may not be out of place here about the sharp 

 daily fluctuations of the ice-fed rivers of the Mount 

 Rainier National Park, especially in view of the diffi- 

 culties these streams present to crossing. There are 

 fully a score of turbulent rivers radiating from the 

 peak, and as a consequence one can not journey far 

 through the park without being obliged to cross one 

 of them. On all the permanent trails substantial 

 bridges obviate the difficulty, but in the less developed 

 portions of the park, fording is still the only method 

 available. It is well to bear in mind that these rivers, 

 being nourished by melting snow, differ greatly in habit 

 from streams in countries where glaciers are absent. 

 Generally speaking, they are highest in summer and 

 lowest in winter ; also, since their flow is intimately 

 dependent upon the quantity of snow being melted at 

 a given time, it follows that in summer when the sun 

 reaches its greatest power they swell daily to a prodi- 

 gious volume, reaching a maximum in the afternoon, 

 while during the night and early morning hours they 

 again ebb to a relatively moderate size. In the fore- 

 noon of a warm summer day one may watch them grow 

 hourly in volume and in violence, until toward the 

 middle of the day they become raging torrents of liquid 

 mud in which heavy cobbles and even bowlders may 

 be heard booming as they roll before the current. It 

 would be nothing short of folly to attempt to ford under 

 these conditions, whether on horseback or on foot. In 

 the evening, however, and still better, in the early 

 morning, one may cross with safety ; the streams then 

 have the appearance of mere mountain brooks wander- 

 ing harmlessly over broad bowlder beds. 



High above the Ingraham Glacier towers that sharp, 

 residual mass of lava strata known as Little Tahoma 

 (11,117 feet), the highest outstanding eminence on the 

 flank of Mount Rainier. It forms a gigantic "wedge'* 



224 



